Davitt Moroney was born in England in 1950. He studied organ, clavichord, and harpsichord with Susi Jeans, Kenneth Gilbert and Gustav Leonhardt. For over twenty years he was based in Paris, working primarily as a freelance recitalist in many countries. In 2001 he moved to California, as a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is Professor of Music and University Organist. He has recently given organ and harpsichord masterclasses at the Paris Conservatoire, the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, the Juilliard School in New York, and Oberlin Conservatory, as well as in South Korea, Finland, Belgium, and Switzerland. Other recent concerts have included recitals in Germany, Holland, Italy, England, and Scotland. He is regularly invited as a jury member for international organ and harpsichord competitions.
Davitt Moroney interviewed by BBC3
His many scholarly editions of harpsichord music include Bach’s Art of Fugue with his own completion of the final unfinished fugue (Henle, 1989), the complete harpsichord works of Louis Couperin (1985) and of Louis Marchand (1987), as well as of Purcell’s recently discovered collection of pieces, now known as the “Purcell Manuscript” (1999). His monograph Bach, An Extraordinary Life — a short introduction to the composer’s life and works — was published by ABRSM Publishing in 2000 and has since been translated into French, Portuguese, Italian, Polish and Romanian.
He has made nearly sixty commercial CDs, especially of music by Bach, Byrd, and various members of the Couperin family. Many of these recordings feature historic organs and harpsichords dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. His recordings include several devoted to Henry Purcell, including the first recording of the “Purcell Manuscript” (Virgin). He has also recorded Bach’s French Suites (two CDs, Virgin), The Well tempered Clavier (four CDs, Harmonia Mundi), the Musical Offering (with Janet See and John Holloway; Harmonia Mundi), the complete Bach sonatas for flute and harpsichord (with Janet See; Harmonia Mundi) and for violin and harpsichord (with John Holloway; Virgin) as well as The Art of Fugue (a work he has recorded twice). Among his most substantial recordings are William Byrd’s complete keyboard works (127 pieces, on seven CDs, using six instruments, for Hyperion), as well as the complete harpsichord and organ music of Louis Couperin (over 200 pieces, on seven CDs, using four historic instruments). His most recently published CD recordings comprise the complete harpsichord works of Louis Marchand and Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (Plectra, 2007), performed on the 1707 Nicolas Dumont harpsichord, and a two-CD set of music from the newly discovered "Borel Manuscript," containing previously unknown French harpsichord music from the 1660s (Plectra, 2008), performed on the 1635 Ioannes Ruckers harpsichord.
His recordings have been awarded the French Grand Prix du Disque (1996), the German Preis der Deutschen Schallplatenkritik (2000), and three British Gramophone Awards (1986, 1991, 2000). In 1987 he was named Chevalier dans l’Ordre du mérite culturel by Prince Rainier of Monaco and, in 2000, Officier des arts et des lettres by the French government.
In 2005 he rediscovered one of the long-lost masterpieces of Renaissance music, Alessandro Striggio’s gigantic Mass in Forty and Sixty parts (for five eight-part choirs). It dates from 1566 and was written at the Medici court in Florence. In July 2007 he conducted the first performance in modern times at London’s Royal Albert Hall, to a live audience of 7,500 people, and a live radio audience of over seven million listeners in six countries. In June 2008 he will conduct two further performances at the Berkeley Early Music Festival.
Davitt Moroney was born in England in 1950. He studied organ, clavichord, and harpsichord with Susi Jeans, Kenneth Gilbert and Gustav Leonhardt. For over twenty years he was based in Paris, working primarily as a freelance recitalist in many countries. In 2001 he moved to California, as a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is Professor of Music and University Organist. He has recently given organ and harpsichord masterclasses at the Paris Conservatoire, the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, the Juilliard School in New York, and Oberlin Conservatory, as well as in South Korea, Finland, Belgium, and Switzerland. Other recent concerts have included recitals in Germany, Holland, Italy, England, and Scotland. He is regularly invited as a jury member for international organ and harpsichord competitions.